Transitions¶
Choose how each playlist item arrives on screen — a cut, a dissolve, a wipe, or a shape you dial in yourself.
The transition chip¶
Every playlist row starts with a chip showing the transition that plays into that item, written as type and duration — for example Dissolve · 0.6s.
The chip tells you where the setting comes from:
| Chip appearance | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Dimmed and italic | The item is using the playlist's default transition. Its tooltip ends with (playlist default). |
| Solid | This item has its own transition, overriding the playlist default. Its tooltip ends with (override). |
New items inherit the playlist default — a Dissolve — until you give them their own.
Assign a preset¶
- Click the chip on the row you want to change.
- Hover Presets (or click it) to open the list.
- Click a preset. It is applied to that item straight away and the menu closes.
To put an item back on the playlist default, click its chip and choose Reset to playlist default. That entry only appears when the item currently has an override.
Built-in presets¶
These eleven presets ship with Moonshine and are always available. They cannot be renamed or deleted.
| Preset | What it looks like | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Cut | Instant change, no blend at all. | 0 s |
| Smooth Dissolve | Even crossfade between the two clips. | 0.6 s |
| Quick Dissolve | The same crossfade, short and linear. | 0.25 s |
| Wipe Left | A soft straight edge travels across the frame at 0°. | 0.5 s |
| Wipe Up | The same straight edge at 90°. | 0.5 s |
| Soft Iris | A circle opens from the middle of the frame, with a soft edge. | 0.7 s |
| Diamond Iris | The same opening shape, as a diamond, with a slightly harder edge. | 0.7 s |
| Vertical Blinds | Ten vertical bands open together. | 0.5 s |
| Grid Circles | A grid of circles — 8 rows by 14 columns — grows open, staggered diagonally. | 0.7 s |
| Clock Sweep | A hand sweeps around the center of the frame. | 0.6 s |
| Pixel Dissolve | The frame changes over in random blocks. | 0.4 s |
Build a custom transition¶
Click a chip and choose Customize.... The Customize Transition panel opens with a live preview that runs the change back and forth between two colored test patterns, with a scrub bar underneath showing where in the transition you are, so you can judge the shape before committing.
The three controls along the top apply to every type:
| Control | Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Type | See the table below | Switching type resets duration, easing and parameters to that type's defaults. |
| Duration | 0 – 10 seconds | 0 makes the change instant, whatever the type. |
| Easing | linear, easeInQuad, easeOutQuad, easeInOutQuad, easeInCubic, easeOutCubic, easeInOutCubic, easeInQuart, easeOutQuart, easeInOutQuart |
Shapes how the change accelerates. linear is constant speed; the easeInOut curves start and end gently. |
The Parameters column below changes with the type. Types with nothing to configure show No parameters.
Click Apply to put the transition on that item, or Cancel (or Esc) to close without changing anything.
Transition types and their parameters¶
| Type | What it looks like | Parameters |
|---|---|---|
| Cut | Instant change. | — |
| Dissolve | Straight crossfade. | — |
| Linear Wipe | A straight edge sweeps across the frame. | Angle, Feather, Reverse |
| Radial Wipe | A circular front spreads out from a point. | Center, Feather, Reverse |
| Iris | A shape opens from a point. | Center, Feather, Shape, Star points |
| Blinds | Parallel bands open at the same time. | Count, Orientation, Feather |
| Grid Circles | A grid of circles grows to fill the frame. | Rows, Columns, Feather, Stagger |
| Grid Squares | The same, with squares. | Rows, Columns, Feather, Stagger |
| Clock | A hand sweeps around a point. | Center, Start angle, Reverse |
| Random | The frame changes over in randomly ordered blocks. | Seed, Granularity |
| Movie Matte | A video drives the shape of the change: bright areas of the matte clip switch over first, dark areas last. Use a clip that animates from black to white. | Matte movie |
What each parameter does¶
| Parameter | Range | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Angle | 0 – 360° | Direction of a linear wipe's edge. |
| Feather | 0 – 0.5 | Softness of the moving edge. 0 is a hard line; higher values blur the boundary. |
| Reverse | On / off | Runs the shape the other way — outward instead of inward, or the opposite sweep direction. |
| Center | X and Y, 0 – 1 | Where the shape starts, as a fraction of the frame. 0.5, 0.5 is the middle. |
| Shape | Circle, Diamond, Star | Outline used by the Iris type. |
| Star points | 3 – 12 | Number of points, used when Shape is Star. |
| Count | 2 – 64 | Number of bands in a Blinds transition. |
| Orientation | Horizontal, Vertical | Which way the bands run. |
| Rows / Columns | 1 – 32 each | Size of the grid. |
| Stagger | None, Diagonal, Random | Whether all cells change together, sweep diagonally, or fire in random order. |
| Start angle | 0 – 360° | Where a Clock sweep begins. |
| Seed | 0 – 9999 | Changes which blocks a Random transition picks first. |
| Granularity | 1 – 512 | Number of blocks across the frame. Low values give chunky blocks, high values approach a pixel dissolve. |
| Matte movie | Any video in the project | The video whose image drives the change. |
Duration beats parameters
An effect that reads beautifully at 2 seconds can be invisible at 0.2. Set the duration first, then judge feather and stagger against it in the preview.
Save your own preset¶
From the Customize Transition panel, click Save as preset..., name it, and click Save.
Saving stores the preset — it does not apply it to the item you started from. Click Apply as well if you want this item to use it now.
Your saved presets appear in the Presets submenu below a divider, under the built-in ones. Hover a saved preset for two extra buttons:
- the pencil to Rename it,
- the trash to Delete it.
Presets are stored with the project and shared with everyone working on it, so a transition one operator dials in is available to the rest of the team immediately.
Where transitions apply¶
Transitions play when the playlist moves from one item to the next — whether that move came from an item's length running out, from Next or Previous, or from clicking a row to trigger it. See Transport controls.